…ALPHA BECOMES THE TWENTY-SECOND NAMED STORM OF THE SEASON AND BREAKS THE ALL-TIME RECORD FOR THE MOST ACTIVE SEASON ON RECORD…
This is the first time the Greek alphabet has ever been used to name tropical cyclones, and 2005 has now eclipsed 1933’s record for the number of Atlantic basin tropical cyclones in a season.
I’ve been talking about this possibility for months, and it has seemed virtually inevitable for weeks, but I’m still sort of stunned that it’s actually happened.
Here is the new list of the most tropical cyclones in a season:
2005: 22
1933: 21
1995: 19
Here’s a visible image showing Wilma at left and Alpha at right:
Wilma, by the way, is about to emerge over the Gulf of Mexico. She has 100 mph sustained winds, making her a Category 2. Hurricane Watches are up for Florida. Bryan Woods at The Storm Track expects her to regain Category 3 status before weakening back to a Cat. 2 prior to Florida landfall as the wind spear picks up. Hurricane Watches are up for all of south Florida. Steve Gregory has more.
|
Categories: Hurricane Wilma & T.S. Alpha
|
October 22nd, 2005 at 5:25:32 pm
Can the people who name hurricanes now start discussion of changing the naming system for the Atlantic basin to match the other areas, where lists of names just cycle? Next season would start out with Alberto as previously arranged, but just keep using names from that list until William comes along, and then go to Andrea - Wendy, Arthur - Wilfred… No chance of ever having Greek storms again.
October 22nd, 2005 at 5:39:24 pm
If Alpha causes severe and deadly flooding on Hispaniola, and thus needs to be retired — which would mean the Greek alphabet would “begin” with Beta from now on — this might be considered. But hopefully that won’t happen, of course…
October 22nd, 2005 at 5:42:34 pm
Why not sell the names?
This is done for names of highs and lows on German weather charts by the University of Berlin. A climate observation series threatened by budget cuts is funded with this measure.
http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/adopt-a-vortex/
I think there are enough weather enthusiasts who would pay for having a hurricane named after them.
October 22nd, 2005 at 5:53:45 pm
Wow.
October 22nd, 2005 at 6:59:34 pm
How bad would you feel if Hurricane Brendan beat the crap out of Puerto Rico, though?
October 22nd, 2005 at 7:11:33 pm
Yeah… if there were a Hurricane Brendan, I’d want it to be a Category 5 monster that stayed harmlessly out at sea. :)
October 22nd, 2005 at 11:41:50 pm
yes… i will attest to the fact that it is no fun having the same name as a deadly hurricane
October 22nd, 2005 at 11:50:42 pm
You know, Katrina, I’ve been wondering about that ever since I met you last month, but I didn’t want to say anything… I figured you’ve heard it enough times…
But hey, it could be worse. There must be someone in America whose name is Katrina and whose birthday is September 11…
October 23rd, 2005 at 10:26:39 pm
yeah.. its def not as it could be. i guess ijust dont like people just calling it Katrina without putting the word hurricane in front of it. it gives it a worse connotation. i actually got mr. lombardi to give me a dollar if he calls it katrina instead of hurricane katrina in my presence.
October 23rd, 2005 at 10:43:57 pm
lol… way to go on the lombardi thing :)